Tourists warned after wildfire breaks out on La Palma

Tourists have been warned to stay away after a park ranger died and 700 people were evacuated when a wildfire broke out on La Palma in the Canary Islands.

Police have arrested a 27-year-old German man who admitted having started the forest fire accidentally. Spanish media reports say the man had been burning used toilet paper.

About 200 firefighters and emergency service workers are trying to put out the fire with the help of helicopters and aircraft, the AP news agency reported regional government officials as saying.

The Foreign and Commonwealth Office said in an updated travel advisory: “Spanish authorities are advising against travel to the area affected by the fire; flights to La Palma are currently unaffected.”

The island’s last major fire was in 2009, when 4,000 people had to be evacuated.

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